Flies And Finesse

The conehead zonker is arguably the best streamer pattern ever tied. Whether you target trout, steelhead, or bass this fly is a staple for any fly box. This fly is incredibly simple and can be tied in 5 minutes or fewer making it perfect for filling boxes. Materials needed: 1. Zonker strips 2. Dubbing 3. Streamer hook, barbed or barbless 4. Conehead to fit streamer hook 5. Wire(optional) Step 1. If you plan to add wire for some extra weight do that before any of this. Start your thread base and tie in your zonker strip at one point as shown. You can wet your fingers to stroke back some of the fibers on the zonker strip to make it easier to work with. Step 2. Apply dubbing wax to your thread and spin up a dubbing loop with your choice of dub. For this fly I am using red and black simi seal. Step 3. Wrap your dubbing loop around the hook until you reach the cone head. Step 4. Bring your zonker strip over the dubbing and tie it in. ...

Zonker strips have some of the best action of any tying material. They wave in the water and have great action while also holding a solid profile. Apart from being a solid leech pattern this fly also imitates a sculpin. This fly that I have come up with is a fairly standard zonker leech tied on a circle hook. Circle hooks can be a bit tricky due to the fact that you essentially ignore the bite to set the hook.  Materials needed: 1. Zonker strips of your color choice 2. Dumbell eyes 3. Scud dub or another similar synthetic dubbing 4. A circle hook Step 1. Tie in your dumbell eyes as close to the eye of the hook as you can while still having some room to tie on. Step 2. Tie in your zonker strip upside down. This is done so the strip rides correctly while riding upside down from the dumbell eyes. Step 3. Tie in another zonker strip and wrap it around the hook a couple of times. Step 4. Begin tying in your dubbing by v-tying. For this fly...

Gurgler patterns are highly effective for almost any type of fishing. You can use smaller gurglers for panfish and use the larger ones for saltwater fish such as snook or sea trout. I recommend fishing this fly by either walking the fly on the surface or with long and aggressive strips. Materials needed: 1.Marabou 2.Crystal flash 3.Foam 4.Cactus chenille 5.Streamer hook 6.Gel spun thread Be sure to select all of these to fit your needs for size and color. Step 1. Start your thread base and bring it back to where the bend in your hook begins and then tie in the marabou and flash. Step 2. Tie in a strip of white foam directly in from of the marabou. Step 3. Tie in your cactus chenille and wrap it around the hook shank. Step 4. Bring your foam over the chenille and tie it in near the eye of the hook. Step 5. Make a small loop with your foam so that it hangs over the eye of your hook. After you secure the foam with your thread you...

The meat whistle is a very well known streamer pattern that is essentially just a conehead zonker tied on a jig hook. It has excellent action in the water and is a great fly to fish in the medium to deep rang in ponds. For this tutorial I made my own jig hook by bending a streamer hook with pliers so if you don't have jig hooks I highly recommended doing this for the time being. I also added a stinger hook to increase the hook set ratio. Materials needed: 1. A jigged streamer hook 2. A stinger hook(optional) 3. Zonker strip in your choice of color 4. Rubber legs 5. Crystal flash 6. Dubbing 7. Thread 8. Copper cone head Step 1. Create a thread dam at the front end of the jig hook. This blocks the conehead from sliding down toward the hook eye which better balances the fly. Always add head cement to the exposed thread after whip finishing to increase durability. Step 2. Add a cone head and start your thread just behind it. Bring your thread to around where the...

 This is a fly I just recently came up with and it will work well during spring and summer time when minnows are schooling. This fly is best fished with long strips followed by a couple of fast strips and a pause. This will make the zonker strip tail flow to imitate a minnow’s tail. The head of this fly is tied with a technique I learned from McFlyangler and fly fish food. It is achieved by flattening stacks of ep fibers between your fingers and then spreading them around the hook evenly. Materials needed:  Thread  Rabbit zonker strip Ep fibers Sharpies or other markers(optional) Glue on 3d eyes Step 1: start your thread a little ways back on your hook to mark a point to start your ep fiber head and then bring your thread to the bend of the hook Step 2: measure out your rabbit zonker to fit your hook length and then tie it in directly on top of the hook. Once you’ve done this you can cut your tag on the zonker strip to stop right before the spot you marked to start the he...

The simi seal leech is a great pattern for warmwater or stillwater fishing. For this tutorial I added legs to the simi seal leech to give it more action than usual. Leech patterns always work exceptionally well when fished around dense cover or brush. Materials: 1. Simi seal dub 2. Streamer hook in your choice size 3. Rubber legs 4. A bead that fist with your hook 5. Thread Step 1. Put your bead on your hook and bring the thread back to the point where the bend of the hook begins. Step 2. V tie simi seal dub to create a tail and tie in 3 legs on either side of the hook. Step 3. Create a dubbing loop with simi seal dub to form the body of this fly. Step 4. Tie in 3 more legs on either side of the hook up front and whip finish. Your fly is now complete and ready to be fished. I recommend fishing this fly aggressively in still water to create motion with the legs. When fishing moving water you can fish this pattern a bit more slo...

 The reverse bulkhead is a pattern that was developed by Bob Popovic and he is well known around the fly tying world for his skill with bucktail. This fly is super fun to fish for bass, pike, and just about any predatory fish both freshwater and saltwater. I’ve found these flies to be most effective with a long steady strip followed by a quick tug, and then a pause.  Materials needed: Small hook or shank Pr378 swimbait hook Thread color of choice Bucktail Flash of choice 50-60lb monofilament  Adhesive of choice(optional) Step 1: secure your thread to the shank and tie a piece of 50-60lb monofilament pointing straight off the hook Step 2: tie in a sparse stack of bucktail and move it around the hook 360 degrees with you thumb. The goal with this is to surround the hook shank Step 3: tie in one strand of large flashabou or multiple strands of crystal flash on both sides of the hook. The idea with this stack is to keep it sparse Step 4: move your thread up the hook shank and...